Once again, US President Donald Trump has been accused of using
music without consent at election rallies. This latest charge has
real bite. That's because it comes from John Fogerty, the
leader of a band that was huge in the 1970s, Credence Clearwater
Revival. Fogerty served in Vietnam and sang about the Vietnam war
in a song called Fortunate Son.
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Fortunate Son dealt with the huge divides that exist in
the USA. In the words of the song, "some folks are born,
silver spoon in hand." Fortunate Son dealt with the
fact that the silver spooners have awesome power: "Ooh, they
send you down to war, Lord." Most importantly, it dealt with
the fact that the sons of the elite don't do war: "I
ain't no senator's son, I ain't no fortunate one,
no." Which may go some way to explaining Trump's
recent much-publicised comment that the American war dead are
"suckers" and "losers".
